CLIFTON PARK >> A town employee was arrested early last week on charges of possessing child pornography.

The case against town Environmental Specialist Michael Montague, 40, was brought before an Albany grand jury Dec. 4 and an indictment was handed down the same day.

Montague was arraigned before Albany County State Supreme Court Judge Stephen Herrick. Bail was set at $10,000, which he posted. He has retained attorney Stephen Coffey to represent him in the case. No appearance date has been set.

Montague was charged with 26 counts of alleged possession of sexual performance by a child. Suspicious videos were allegedly found on Montague’s personal computer when it was brought in for repair. All 26 counts are felony charges.

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He was hired by the town in 2009 as its environmental specialist. One of his duties is to manage and supervise the town’s annual Household Hazardous Waste collection Day.

Town Supervisor Philip Barrett was surprised to hear of the charges and the arrest.

“We are not aware of any allegations connected to his employment. The employee, an environmental specialist, has been placed on administrative leave pending further review,” Barrett said in a prepared statement.

Town of Colonie Deputy Chief of Police John VanAlstyne said an arrest warrant for Montague was issued Dec. 9. Montague was notified of the warrant and turned himself in to law enforcement authorities.

VanAlstyne said the charges go back to around five years when Montague brought his personal laptop computer into a repair shop in the town. The video images were noticed at the shop and the police were notified at that time.

One of the reasons for the time lag between when the images were first noticed and the indictment, VanAlstyne said, was due to discussions between state and federal authorities as to which jurisdiction should handle the case.

“I’m sure he knew he was under investigation because we had the laptop,” VanAlstyne said.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ office said the case was raised from Colonie Town Court at the request of the town.